Trains and fairytales

We headed to the National Botanic Gardens today to see the holiday trains. Harper loved the trains and Lucy loved the fairytale houses that are made completely out of organic materials. Her favorite was the 3 Little Pigs' houses, complete with the big bad wolf. Harper's favorite was the simple train going around in a circle around the big Christmas tree. Both loved the trolly car and the Christmas train that had "fish jumping out of it".

Lucy also loved seeing the big National Christmas tree that was going up in front of the Capitol building. More signs of the season, and they are loving every bit of it.

Afterwards we headed to the Museum of the Native American for lunch and hanging out. Lunch was great, playtime not so much. Harper was denied museum priveledges when she began hitting me and yelling "no" to me because I put Graham in her stoller. At that very moment I looked over and saw Lucy walking on top of a bench and falling on her head. No sympathy when you aren't following the rules. They were escorted to the car, in the rain.

All the while their chubby little brother was grinning his socks off in the stroller. While I was putting the girls in the car, Graham sat and talked to the parking meter, and smiled as the rain beat him in the face. At least one ended the outing with a grin on his face. That is, until he screamed the 20 minute drive home, all to be picked up with poo streaming down his leg, squeezing out of the top of his diaper and running up his back.

We all have our highs and lows, and today was no exception. I could have used one of those trains to fairytale land, a place with no hitting, crying, poopy clothes or rain, but I'll keep the three little pigs.

ICE!

With Thanksgiving over and a weekend with family in town, we decided to take the kids to National Harbor for ICE! It is a 2 million pound ice sculpture display in a tent that is kept at 9 degrees. The rules state that you wear ridiculous coats, if you are lucky (Harper was not so lucky as the coat was three times bigger than her and maybe 20 pounds heavier), and file through a maze of ice sculpted into bridges, sleighs, animals, people, penguins, trees and slides. Yes, slides. Harper was out after about 15 minutes since it was too cold and she wasn't allowed to go down the slides. But Lucy was ready for the slides. And slide she did. The cold didn't slow her down. I slid with her, she slid by herself and she raced Hunter several times down the racers. She slid until her feet were numb and she couldn't use her hands. It was pretty neat and I'm glad we went. Oh, and I am thankful for one of the rules: no sticking your tongue on the ice. Another reason why Harper wasn't so thrilled.

Working hard and hardly working

Playtime is hard work for Graham these days. He is starting to embrace tummy time and gets very serious about it. He is getting stronger and in more control. The books and mirrors help. He loves to look at photos in books that have a lot of color and he will yell at them as he tries to hold his head up to look at them. Lucy helps as well. She can really hold his attention. Harper is not as much help. She likes to sit next to him and take all the books that he is looking at, or she likes to pile things onto his back. Either way, not so helpful.

Boots!

No, folks, she isn't just back from a long bender in Atlantic City. The leggings are standard attire for Harper these days as they are the few pants she owns that fit her both in length and waist. The boots, however, are a new love. When I tell her to go get her shoes she says, "Boots!" and comes running with these.

Where is the Gingerbread man?

While Ian and our houseguests hammered out yard work for 5 hours on Saturday, I was left to entertain the girls part of the morning. Our new tradition is to take the heavy cream container used in the preparation of the dressing at Thanksgiving, wash it and turn it into a gingerbread house to kick start the Christmas holiday season. To top it off, we used candy that we set aside from Halloween. Lucy worked diligently to decorate the house. Harper worked very hard to eat as much as I would allow. The only worry when we were finished (other than keeping out of Harper's candy-loving hands) was where the gingerbread man was. Lucy is on the prowl for him. He's on the way, in the next cookie-making session.

Kiss the Cook

Lucy was busy with Thanksgiving preparations last week. She traced her hand to make turkeys and then made legs and glued them onto each decorated turkey. She made 9 in all to be used as place cards at the Thanksgiving dinner table. She was very proud of them and everyone loved seeing which turkey they got. My favorite was Lucy's placard that actually looked like her turkey was flipping everyone "the bird".

The day before Thanksgiving, while I was prepping some of the side dishes, Lucy was in charge of making the dressing. She made almost the entire dish all by herself (literally, I was in the other room). She cut the cornbread and the sage. She measured the mixed the wet ingredients and stirred it all together and put it into the casserole. The dish was complete with all the pride she mixed in. And it was all eaten at the table, no leftovers for this one.

Buff Bod

We love Graham in his jeans. We realized today that we love it even more when he wears them shirtless.

Holy Family

The nativity scene came out today. The girls each gathered some animals, shepherds, and wisemen to play with. Harper loved the dog and the angel that sings "Away in the Manger" and Lucy loves the baby Jesus and Mary and Joseph figures.
Later, I looked over and LaLa was squeezed into the stable, with a giant stuffed moose looking over the entire scene. Lucy proclaimed, "LaLa is baby Jesus. I am Mary and Harper is Joseph!" I thought to myself, "Well, at least Lucy wants to be Mary"- (see my other post). Then, Lucy added, "No, I am Joseph and Harper is Mary." Ugh, that Holy Family is unpredictable, and in Lucy's world, wearing UK tshirts.

How many reindeer?

Well, it has been two days since I got out the holiday music, book, nativity scene and dvds for the kids. Lucy has jumped right in. We have read about "baby Jesus" a billion times already, watched Frosty the snowman, and listened to Christmas music nonstop. Her favorite song is Rudolph, by far. When she asked me tonight if she could play it again, suspending other Christmas music, I said no. "Why?" she asks. I reply, "because I have let you listen to it 6 times in the past hour." She disagrees and adds, "No, we listened to it 7 times." Making my case for me.
I find her often curled up next to the stereo speakers as close as she can be, listening to the music and trying to remember all the words. She is usually looking at holiday books as well. When not listening to the music, she is asking me to sing it, or making up her own words. For the 8 tiny reindeer, she has added the names "Rock and Roll", "Dachsund" and "Downer" to the line up.
It has been two days. I am already tiring of Rudolph and his gang. I am trying to turn her onto the Nutcracker Suite and Charlie Brown's Christmas cd, both of which don't have many words and don't get stuck in your head when repeated over and over again. By the way, Rudolph is Disc 1, track 1 in our cd player. I was already reprimanded for trying to switch it up.

Big Tooter

Harper has a new favorite set of skills- burping and tooting- and then being able to notify everybody that she has just performed one of these bodily functions. Here is the scenario from dinner tonight:
The family is sitting around the table, eating dinner. Having a little conversation about the day and about our trip to the botanic gardens to see the holiday trains. Harper leans to the side, lets a giant explosion of gas rip, and then giggles and yells "Big Toot!" She follows it up a few minutes later with a "Big Bup" (yes, I know there is no "r" in that statement).
She will proclaim when Graham fills his pants as well. She thinks it is all hilarious, as is the sight of anyone's bottom, which she must promptly come over and swat. So fair warning to anyone visiting for the holidays, Harper will call you out, and then probably "toot" her own horn.

Where's My Little Girl???

Well, I guess it is a good thing that I have two girls and a boy. I'm not much for prissy girls who have to wear dresses and have to have princess and pink everything, but I would love a little girl who liked SOME part of being a little girl. Let me back up.
Lucy has decided, slowly, but surely, that she does not like being a girl. She wants only to wear pants. No pink or purple will ever do (minus her "Natural Beauty" tshirt that is pink and has a horse on it). Braids are for girlier girls and princesses are just not her thing. When playing dress up, she always wants Harper to be the princess and she assumes the role of prince. When naming her My Little Ponies, she chooses boy names for them ("because they are better"). When playing pretend play she deepens her voice and acts "manly".
Tomboy she is not. She is still too OCD to be a rough and tumble kid. She doesn't like to be dirty or make messes. She simply wants to live in either her UK tshirt or her Redskins sweatshirt, but they must stay clean.
I'm finding that any time she wants to do something girly, I am all for it, pushing her to do it, actually. Paint her nails, put on make up, wear jewelry, whatever. Today she got me, though. When I let her put on jewelry, it was to my chagrin that it was used to "fight the bad guys". Oh well, there' Harper. Maybe she will be my ballerina fairy princess. Or, maybe like everything else, she will follow Lucy's lead. I guess there is always Graham :)!

Graham

Graham is weighing in at 12 pounds these days and always working on putting on more pounds. He is smiling and cooing and kicking and squirming all the time. He is generally happier than he was a month or so ago, even though he does have his terrible, awful, rotten days where he just cries and screams the entire day. He is really starting to love tummy time and is getting stronger by the day. Today he even put his hands down to help push himself up and he loves to do the super man. Hopefully being stronger will make him happier and he will be more content to play rather than cry and be held all day.

He has found his hands and sucks his finger and thumb a lot of the day. He can also put his hands together or use them to bat at toys. He is getting more used to being in the car and doesn't cry each and every time he gets in his seat. He is currently refusing the bottle but we are still trying. One big highlight, he is sleeping up to 9 hours at night, only waking once between 9:30pm and 7am. Give me sleep and I can deal with the crankiness.

Harper

Harper is just Harper. Anybody who knows her knows that she is just the happiest little sprite around. Her new tricks are to climb up onto the couch, walk in a crouch doing her "crabwalk", and attempt to do forward rolls. Her speech is coming along, and that just makes her a cute little tyrant, always demanding milk, help, or something she shouldn't be allowed to have. She loves sweets and treats and will throw both arms up in the air and yell "I do!" when one is offered to anyone in the room . She loves to chase and be chased. She loves to pull things that follow behind her (and walk around in circles in the house). She loves to work out in the yard helping Ian, or help me clean windows or the table or empty the dishwasher or put away groceries. She loves playing dress up, putting on make up, and taking care of her baby dolls. She spends a lot of her day walking around with either a baby doll or stuffed animal in her arm and now takes them with her in the car. Her new favorite thing is Elmo, even though she has only seen Sesame Street once. Silly, giggly, smart and observant. She loves play doh, playing with tea sets and Mr. Potato Head and coloring and painting.

Harper loves when Lucy is at school and Graham is napping. That's when she gets go to the playground or play in the playroom with just me- no sharing, nobody yelling at her or tattling on her. Those are the times she seems to soak up everything like a sponge. She will suddenly be able to put together a puzzle, learn a new song or game or talk more clearly, those are her growing times. That's great for her and we are excited about all the new things she is accomplishing, but Harper is the one we repeatedly ask to "stay little for forever". She has other ideas.

Lucy

Lucy's past few weeks have been filled with lots of Thanksgiving prep. At school, she has been rehearsing her square dance routine, her thanksgiving program songs, making costumes, cards, turkey centerpieces, etc. At home, she has been playing with her Pilgrim/ Native American Thanksgiving feast playset, watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, practicing her program songs and making place cards for the holiday dinner. She got to visit Ronin's new house, played with her friends Kylee and Natalie, went to a birthday party, helped Ian in the yard and tried her best to be a help to me with Graham and Harper. She moved to a big girl twin bed (complete with the sheets that she personally chose) and went to Gardening camp with her friend Mina. It has been a busy month for her, but something is looming in the future.

All the prep- a simple hurdle. All the talk of turkey, a simple display. Because what is really on this kids mind- Santa. She has attempted to sneak in Christmas music, movies and gift suggestions. This is my favorite time of year for one reason. I have the perfect threat- Santa is always watching, and taking notes, a simple tally (Lucy J- down one notch yesterday, up two today- that equals one medium sized gift.) So for now, we may still have the Thanksgiving table cloth on the table and leftovers are in the frig, but Lucy has moved on. It is the day she has been waiting for, the day after Thanksgiving, when all the Christmas talk can begin, trees go up, lights twinkle and those sugar plum fairies begin dancing their way into her dreams. So long turkey, Santa Claus is coming to town, and Lucy is here with open arms.

From Farm to Table

Lucy has begun making the connection that animals sometimes end up on our dinner table. That a chicken is chicken and hamburger is cow...
Now she is wondering, "Do we really eat turkey?" She wants to know if we can have the turkey from her favorite farm, Oxon Hill. I explain to her that if we eat that turkey, then he will no longer be at the farm for us to visit. She ponders this and then goes on her way.
Her newest question, "Mom, how do the farmers get the turkeys to lay down so we can eat them?" Uhhhh. I think she missed the part where the turkey meets his untimely death for the sake of our dinner. I explain, to the best of my ability and without too much gore and detail.
In truth, Lucy is in many ways a vegetarian. She really does not care for meat at all and we make her take "thank you bites" every night of her hamburger, chicken, etc. The few exceptions? Hot dogs, salami and pepperoni. She loves them. Now it will be a whole new story when she asks "what's in a hot dog?" I'm not sure I will have the heart to tell her. Perhaps the hot dog just lays down and the farmer harvests it, delivering it on a perfect bun, with mustard.

Little Man Jeans

While I have been happy squeezing back into my jeans, I was even happier today seeing Graham in his. What a little man! He even got compliments on them at school when we went to pick up Lucy. You know you are looking good when other moms who are surrounded by a billion kids stop to tell you just how cute you look in your little jeans.
Other news.... Graham slept more than 8 hours straight last night. Things are good and getting better!

Yeehaw!

Lucy's class is learning the art of the hoedown so her movement teacher invited parents to visit their class to see the kids in action. Lucy was very concerned that Ian couldn't join us and asked that I video her dancing so he could see it. I thought that others might like to see it as well. Some videos are more exciting than others.
Lucy's partner is Ryan, the same Ryan who has brought Lu a necklace to school, talks about her to his dad and the same Ryan that Lucy gushes over at home. They chose their partners. As you can see, Lucy doesn't know the dance as well as some of her classmates. They have movement on Mondays and most of the other kids are there on that day while Lucy is not. I have to say that she was keeping up pretty well, though. As you can also see is that Lucy is still a peanut when it comes to her classmates.
On another note, on this same day, Lucy's teacher told me that "Lucy is the most joyful child she has ever known" and that she was just always so happy and giggly. My response was that that is the best report any mom could get and that deserves a big "Yeeehaw!"

The Robot dance, the kids choice on this day

Harper clapping and dancing with the class